rust Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I gave them a stripped down cargo vessel that can act as an exploration vehicle if necessary. They can hire out to explore space anomalies in between adventures to supplement their income. A good way to avoid a lot of potentially quite boring bookkeeping. Quote "Mind like parachute, function only when open." (Charlie Chan) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Writer Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Just a reminder, which has nothing to do with the previous reply but which get on my nerves when I'm watching a sci-fi movie: there is no noise in the intersideral vacuum. Nothing to hear when a vessel explodes (not talking about "pew pews"). I've however never seen a sci-fi movie allowing something exploding silently in the space... I know, there are much more important things to care about, but stil, I find it quite irritating... There was no sound in space in Firefly - at least in the TV series. Background music only. Quote Call of Cthulhu RPG Journals: http://www.yog-sothoth.com/blogs/2951 Other journals: http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/blog.php/8662-Max_Writer Youtube Page: http://www.youtube.com/user/MaxWriter Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MaxWriter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpgstarwizard Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 My superworld and other group had been begging me to run a scifi setting ala the tropes and we have used Worlds beyond as a base system it has some minor flaws, but very workable. I downloaded a ship build system here and though downloaded have not heard back from anyone. It works for anysystem, Trek and big ships are interesting. Anyway, the first rule is KISS, " Keep it simple stupid", in this case stupid means the system. A simple system can be built upon unlike the other systems out there, like high guard and the trek systems, the system gets overly complicated and begins to limit. Your "SDC" system for weapons is interesting, but I would simply state that for some reason hand held beams dont work, the tech cant be developed etc, or the society has severe penalties for their use etc. For ships there are a couple ideas. In the game I am running they obtained a ship that was found derelict. It was a mess, but servicible. Now, they discovered the ship may have been used as apirate vessel and are on the run. They are trying to figure why the ship was abandoned, and discovering the ship itself seems to have ...an agenda, lol. In The the cool game FTL:2448 the example party wins a crappy ship in a card game. Start simple and build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 In The the cool game FTL:2448 the example party wins a crappy ship in a card game. Start simple and build. Oddly enough, that is exactly how I am having the "captain" get his ship. He has a ship and is now looking for a crew (a touch of Firefly). Whatever roles the pc's can't fulfill, I'll have droids and NPC's do the work. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 I hate to double post, but I have been running this idea through my head and before I implement it in my game, what do you folks think? All constructive, but polite criticism is welcome. I wanted to stay away from too many overly complicated mechanics, between the different weapons and try to balance them out (if possible). Thoughts? Small Caliber Pistol Weapons: Single shot or double shot. 1d4 damage. These are mainly hold out, easy to conceal, personal self defense weapons like a .22 or a .38 Medium Caliber Pistol Weapons: Single shot, may have equipment added to make it more accurate. 1d6 or 1d6+X damage. 12 round clip. Easy to conceal weapons like a 9mm. Large Caliber Pistol Weapons: Single shot, 1d8 or 1d8+X damage. 8 round clip. May have equipment added to make it more accurate. Difficult to impossible to hide. Sub-machine guns: Single or 3 shot burst. 1d6 damage. 20 round clip. May target two different opponents.May have equipment added to make it more accurate. Impossible to conceal. Automatic Weapons: Single or 5 shot burst. 1d8 damage. 30 round clip. May target three different opponents. May have equipment added to make it more accurate. Impossible to conceal. Blasters (i.e. Star Wars): Single shot. 1d10 damage. Short range. 10 charge clip. Difficult to conceal. Susceptible to electromagnetic damage, making weapon useless. Draws attention of opponents and local law enforcement... Lasers Pistol (i.e. Warhammer 40K): Single shot: 2d8 damage. Short range. 8 charge clip, rechargeable. Impossible to conceal. Laser using opponents draw lots of attention as it generally ignores most armor. Laser Rifle (i.e. Warhammer 40K): Single shot. 2d8 damage*. 30 charge clip, rechargeable. May have equipment added to make it more effective. Impossible to conceal. Laser using opponents draw lots of attention from enemies and local law enforcement and military... 1d6+X or 1d8+X damage for weapons means they may be loaded with special ammunition. Result might be 1d8+1 for heavy loads, 1d8+2 for hollow points, etc. Burst weapons may cause x3 or x5 the amount of base damage. Sub-machine guns can do x3 damage per burst. Full automatic weapons do x5 damage per burst. One roll is made to hit, if it misses, all shots in the burst miss. Laser Rifles may uses extra charges or "hot loads." Damage is 4d8 per shot (hot loads use up 2 charges per hot load). Using hot loads reduces the capacity of the battery clip by half and destroys both the battery clip and rifle after one full use of a clip. There is a 5% cumulative chance with each "hot load" expended of the weapon over heating and exploding. Damage will be per hot load left in clip. Blasters and Lasers do NOT shoot through walls or doors, though they make holes in them first. Bullets MAY shoot through walls and doors with the first round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 My wife picked up a Canadian sci-fi TV series on DVD that might provide some inspiration. The jury is still out on whether the show is any good, but it features a trio of scruffy bounty hunters who tool around the galaxy in a former cruise ship. Cheap BBC-style sets and effects, but what strikes me as atmospheric is the concept of huge ship, tiny crew. Now, the ship isn't the cheery place you'd expect a former Love Boat to be. It is dark and cavernous in some places, tight and claustrophobic in others, with dim florescent lighting even in the better lit areas. Plenty of places for prisoners to hide if (when they inevitably) escape. It takes a long time to walk to the important parts of the vessel, and with only three people to operate it, chances are you're going there alone, in the dark. If something goes wrong with the equipment or someone (or something) is stalking you through the shadowy corridors, help is a long way away, even if you have an intercom or walkie-talkie available. Sorry, no handy golf carts for the disabled on this voyage. The crew composition is against type, too. The male captain is a tired Sam Spade type, using the bounty missions to search for his missing little boy. He's taken in his orphaned niece, crewman No. 2, who has grown into a horny teenager without a peer group to socialize with. Crewman No. 3 is your typical macho woman with a blaster, a no-nonsense Company woman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trifletraxor Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 And the name of the series is...? Quote Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub! 116/420. High Priest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Excellent! That is pretty much how the group's ship situation is. It's a large ship and most of the internal workings are automated (engineering, maintenance, etc.) and if the group needs to go somewhere, it takes a minute to get there. There's no big, sweeping hallways or corridors, it's a functioning ship. There is a medical ward with two beds (imagine the interior of the ship Serenity), engineering is way down at the other end of the ship and it's a trek. I'm giving them the Tantive IV Star Wars blockade runner, without weapons, for a ship. So if they want to get into ship to ship battles, it'll be ugly and rather short. Not sure how long it'll be before they earn enough money to hire a full crew. Anyway... Seneschal the series sounds delightful, whats the name of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Starhunter, not to be confused with its sequel Starhunter 2300 Starhunter (TV Series 2000) - IMDb Another thing that makes it not just another Doctor Who Meets Han Solo rip-off is the nature of the crew's charges. These aren't your regular gangsters, murderers and thieves. Oh, no. Dante Montana and his two female associates are transporting to jail criminally insane fiends who would be perfectly at home in a Batman comic. So when the bad guy flexes the evil genius that enabled him or her to threaten an entire planet or space station, it's up to two squabbling adults and a headstrong teenie-bopper to catch him again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dredj Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Just a reminder, which has nothing to do with the previous reply but which get on my nerves when I'm watching a sci-fi movie: there is no noise in the intersideral vacuum. Nothing to hear when a vessel explodes (not talking about "pew pews"). I've however never seen a sci-fi movie allowing something exploding silently in the space... I know, there are much more important things to care about, but stil, I find it quite irritating... That's because movie effects people don't think a scene will "sell" if there's no sound to go with the action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingSkin Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I'm a little late to the party but I'm currently running a post-apocalyptic sci-fi game. I've put the character sheet and a new initiative system in the downloads section. I've also got the weapons written up. The document isn't finished yet so I haven't posted it but if you want, Loki, I can PM you a copy of what I've got at the moment. I wasn't keen on the idea of energy weapons for my near future semi-hard SF setting so I went for a mixture of traditional chemical slug throwers (albeit using caseless ammo, etc) and coil guns which use magnetic coils to accelerate the projectiles. The weapons are fairly detailed with 8 to 10 or so of each class, from a range of manufacturers with their own design ethos, naming conventions, etc. Oh, and there are catalogue-style writeups for all the weapons to help expand the background and give them more flavour. I've also changed a few of the existing weapon categories around so shotguns have been replaced by flechette weapons known as flak guns (with corresponding pistol versions) and SMGs are now known as chain pistols and are very popular close-quarters weapons. I haven't written up any heavy weapons but the main guns and melee stuff (which is intentionally basic) are all done, as is the armour. I'm not sure how much help any of it will be to you as you may well be aiming for something completely different but you could mine it for ideas. If you want a copy let me know and I'll send it over. Quote "Not gods - Englishmen. The next best thing." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odin Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Had to change my name from Loki to Odin (forgot my password and changed emails). Anywho.....played my first couple of games with a few groups. Had to change groups b/c the first group of guys simply couldn't get along. The second group was...how shall I put this....I was taking them to a museum of Impressionist paintings while they were still using finger paints. The third group, after they got themselves killed a number of times, finally realized that gun play really isn't "play" and calling bounty hunters "gun bunnies" on mining colonies gets the group killed quickly, or at least the guy that said it. I just wanted to say that everyone loves BRP (with some minor house rules to keep things fun). Everyone is toting good old slug throwers and only brings out the blasters when they go on an alien world or are in trouble with the authorities (which happens far more than I expected). I do have one Y'zarrian who totes a Warhammer 40K Eldar shuriken rifle with chilling effect. The rules make for a "cracking" game and the simplicity makes the game very fluid and enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montjoy Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 There was no sound in space in Firefly - at least in the TV series. Background music only. Also, Bab 5 had no sound in space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Also, Bab 5 had no sound in space. One of the best TV series I've ever seen! For its story, first: each episode is really linked to the whole and it becomes a very coherent and consistent mega story. But also for its characters: they are not always the same; they change during each event. They acquire experience and improve their skills as well as their personality! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montjoy Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 One of the best TV series I've ever seen! For its story, first: each episode is really linked to the whole and it becomes a very coherent and consistent mega story. But also for its characters: they are not always the same; they change during each event. They acquire experience and improve their skills as well as their personality! I completely agree with you. The growth of G'kar is just amazing from the start to finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Also, Bab 5 had no sound in space. Just watching the first series again and, whilst I agree it is a fantastic series, it does have engine noises in space. But, I can forgive it that. Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Just watching the first series again and, whilst I agree it is a fantastic series, it does have engine noises in space. But, I can forgive it that. It's ... engine vibration inside the pilot's pressurized cabin. Yeah, that's it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montjoy Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Guess I got that wrong. Turns out only some episodes had silent space battle scenes...must be getting old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odin Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 *GASP* Never question the power of space explosions in a vacuum when telling a story! Raise your hand if you refused to watch Star Wars because the Death Star went Boom? That's what I thought...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 And everyone knows that lasers make a "peeeew, peeeew" sound when fired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odin Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 And everyone knows that lasers make a "peeeew, peeeew" sound when fired. And they have special colors too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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